


No way out but through

by wordsbysydney (sydkang)



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Case Fic, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Magical Book, Near Death Experiences, posession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 08:47:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9377354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sydkang/pseuds/wordsbysydney
Summary: Jake and Ezekiel are sent to Iceland by the clippings book to investigate a magical artifact that is causing slightly higher than average prosperity in a small town.Ezekiel suspects there is more going on in the town besides just a magical artifact.He is typically right about these things.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a (very very late) secret santa gift for outruneverything! I hope you like it!!

The clippings book had sent them to a small town in Iceland without any indication of what they were looking for. By all indications, it seemed that the town was as typical as it could be. Everyone was happy. Everyone was doing well.

“Well, apparently, they’re doing too well,” Ezekiel said when Jake questioned their purpose in the town yet again, “and that usually means someone’s made a deal that’s bound to go south eventually.”

“Speaking from experience?” Jake asked jokingly, raising an eyebrow.

Ezekiel scoffed and shook his head, saying, “the faster we figure out what’s fishy here, the faster we capture the fish and take it back to the Library where it can swim with all the other magical fishies.”

“Magical – what? Fishies? What are you even talking about man.”

\-----

Ezekiel had been right. The unassuming, if slightly more prosperous than usual town had a very magical and slightly evil core. A group of people had come across an old grimoire – the Galdrabok – and were using it to summon spirits to help them.

“According to Jenkins, the original was supposedly tossed into a volcano decades ago,” Jake said, his voice just above a whisper as they snuck through the basement of one of the suspects.

“Clearly it wasn’t,” Ezekiel replied, his eyes darting around, looking for something that looked like a grimoire in the basement. “So either someone messed up, or someone faked it.”

“Both good theories,” they froze as they heard a voice coming from behind them. “I can tell you which one’s right if you want.”

\-----

Jake and Ezekiel were quickly overpowered by a group of people after they heard the voice. The woman who belonged to the voice came and stood in front of them now that they were restrained, asking, “who are you two?”

“We’re land surveyors,” Ezekiel replied before Jake could say anything.

“And what are you doing in my basement?” she asked again.

“Surveying your land,” Ezekiel replied as if it should have been obvious, as if they hadn’t just been caught breaking and entering and were likely now in a good deal of danger.

“Well, you came at just the right time,” the woman said. “I was just about to dump this body anyways. One of you will do just fine. Get rid of her once I’m settled,” she said to the rest of the group, and then she collapsed.

Jake looked over at Ezekiel, giving him a confused look. Ezekiel frowned and shook his head, not the least bit sure of what was going on.

“Okay, what kind of game are you lot –“ Ezekiel started to say. He interrupted himself, gasping suddenly and shaking.

“Jones, what’s going on?” Jake asked, struggling against the arms that were holding him back. “Ezekiel, what’s wrong?” 

“Aw, it’s so cute you care about him.” The voice that left Ezekiel’s mouth was his, but the intonation of his words, the tone, the cadence of his speech – none of them were him. Even his accent sounded different, as if there was another person trying to take control of the way he formed syllables. “You can let go of me now,” the thing in Ezekiel’s body said, shaking off the people restraining him.

“Wow,” he continued. “I really should have picked the other one. This one is really chattering away up here,” he motioned at Ezekiel’s head, “even worse than her,” he motioned at the unconscious woman lying on the floor of the basement.

“Oh well, that’s just my luck I guess,” he shrugged. “Didn’t I say to get rid of her? You can all go. He’s not going to hurt his friend.”

The rest of the group left, dragging the woman’s body out with them, leaving Jake and Ezekiel and the thing controlling Ezekiel’s body alone.

“You know, it’s sometimes hard to know what’s going to break someone’s spirit and get them to shut up and let me do what I want,” he said, circling Jake who was frozen in place, “but I think I know just the thing that’ll do it for this one. I think if I used his hands to stab you to death his fragile little heart would just break right in half. That’ll shut him up.”

He grabbed a knife and started to lunge at Jake but then stopped, the sudden lack of motion startling both bodies – and all the consciousnesses – that were present in the room. His expression went from confused to angry as he found himself unable to move.

“Jones?” Jake asked warily as he watched the internal struggle for control that was occurring right in front of him. 

“Stronger than I thought I guess,” the thing said, every word coming out more laboured than the last. “But you can’t keep me at bay much longer Ezekiel Jones.”

“Run.” The voice that came out was Ezekiel’s this time, his mouth twisting the singular word out with what looked like a great deal of effort. 

\-----

“Ezekiel,” Jake said, just as frozen as Ezekiel was in front of him, “we’ll figure this out. We’ll, we’ll do an exorcism or a – a de-possessing spell, or something. Jenkins will know something about it.”

“Stop,” Ezekiel said, saving his energy for what he was about to do. He couldn't see any way around it. He looked at Jake then, who had indeed stopped talking for the moment and was just watching Ezekiel. “Back door.”

“Right, the Library will be the best place to sort this out,” Jake said, nodding and reaching into his pocket for his phone.

Ezekiel waited until Jake’s back was turned and he was occupied with the phone call to move. He used every bit of will power to first assure himself that there was no other way, and then he turned the knife that the intruder had meant to use on Jake towards himself and drove it into his body.

The thud as Ezekiel hit the ground alerted Jake to what had happened, his phone dropping from his hand as he rushed to Ezekiel’s side.

“What the hell Jones!” he exclaimed, putting pressure on the wound site, trying to contain the bleeding as much as he could. “Jenkins, Ezekiel’s down!” he yelled at his fallen phone to Jenkins in the Library.

\-----

He could hear their voices, far away, as if he were on an island and they were calling out to him from a boat out on the ocean.

He could hear his heartbeat, slowly marching towards the inevitable.

He could hear the screech of anger as whoever had possessed him was forced to depart, the rest of the souls following after them. The atmosphere was quiet as the slow thumping of his heart ceased for a moment.

It was peaceful.

But then, even before he heard the thumping of his heart again, even before he felt the whoosh of air flow back into his lungs, the voices started moving closer again, fading in and out of his consciousness like waves.

Eventually, he groaned back into the world of the fully alive, sore and groggy, the too-bright lights leaving spots in his vision as he tried to adjust to the world again.

“Don’t ever do that again,” he heard Jake say when he realized Ezekiel was awake.

"There was no other way," Ezekiel replied, his voice creaking out, hoarse from disuse.

"Don't ever do that again," Jake said again, more forcefully this time.

The two looked at each other for a moment.

“If I knew how much pain I would be in I wouldn’t have done it this time,” Ezekiel finally said, smiling as he closed his eyes again.

They both knew he was lying.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this to parallel the scene in 3x02 where Ezekiel gets bitten by a werewolf.
> 
> I didn't go through with that version of it, but this fic was meant to inform Jake's overprotectiveness/panic at Ezekiel getting injured and also continue to explore Ezekiel's tendency to dive headfirst into self-sacrifice.


End file.
